Positive Reviews

Shure has definitely outdone themselves with this wonderful product. Never have I experienced more clarity in a pair of IEMs. For someone who listens to alternative rock, pop, and an assorted array of indie music, I say that few IEMs can do better. The amount of detail displayed is extraordinary. Vocals are crystal clear and forward, especially female vocals. However, the bass is lacking a bit in quantity, but they're by no means flat. It's still punchy enough to satisfy most listeners. No, these IEMs are not for bass-heads, but for those who want precision. If you're someone who prefer to have lows that accentuate exceptional mids and highs, these are the headphones for you. They're the...

Cons: Could use a little more treble extension, hard to remove the olive tips

Shure SE425 - Highly Impressed - Great Build, Great Sound
I received these as a replacement for my SE420 - which unfortunately had to be replaced due to the cable splitting at the relief (luckily inside warranty). Kudos to the fantastic team at Now Sound in NZ for their prompt work replacing them.
Build
The biggest change from the older model has been the addition of a detachable cable - and the design for this is wonderful. It now includes a memory wire (some love it, some hate it - I find it handy). The housing is now hard plastic (the old one had a rubber cover which would keep splitting). The hard cover makes it a lot...

Negative Reviews

play music professionally.
these sound great.
been through 3 of them in 90 days.
buy the insurance from guitar center - if you're on tour with these and the left side goes out (it will) you'll be screwed for a week.
seriously - buy these - but DO NOT hit the road with out replacement cables.
and don't use them for anything other than rehearsals or shows - if they crap out on you mid-set, that's on them... if you lose a side to WTF you're gonna be even more pissed.

I got my pairs (plural) because my last pair of tried and trusty EC-4s bit the dust.. losing the left channel as they tend to do over 3 or 4 years. In the past, I'd send $100 dollars and the EC-4s to Shure, who'd fix them and send them back. Good to go.
Unfortunately, Shure has end-of-lifed the EC-4s. Boo! So rather than fixing them, they replaced them with two brand new pairs of SE425's-- right off the store shelves. Impressive that Shure backs their gear as well as they do, it says a lot about the company's integrity.
So now I'm left with two brand-new pair of SE425's. They are VERY different from the EC-4s, and not in a...

More Reviews

Pros: smooth mids, detailed and analytical but not dry, works well with any device but scales quite well

Cons: stock earbuds may not fit everyone but can always upgrade to custom sleeves

Ever since picking these IEMs up, they have been my go-to pair for almost every genre of music. They provide a great balance of neutrality paired with extremely forward and lush mids which do not make the IEMs sound dry at all in comparison to the Etymotics. Bass extension is awesome and imaging is fantastic with awesome instrumental placement giving almost a 3D soundspace to well mastered tracks.
These also scale well although not as well as some others. Due to their impedance levels, they work well out of almost any device natively but paired with an amp it changes the sound slightly. My E07k gives a more neutral sound in comparison to a more full-body (slightly more bass)...

Cons: tips are hard to get off, putting them on can be a struggle, price

Pros:
Comfortable: Coming from a few different buds and a few different IEMs these felt like a dream to wear for more than 4 hours at a time. That's my biggest complaint with headphones and IEMs is the fatigue that comes with wearing them for long periods of time. The around the ear shape shifts the weight from the canal to the back of the ear, making them infinitely more comfortable. Because I have two different sized canals, I had to use to different tips on each side. It does help in recognizing which way to put them in :).
Clean Sound Stage: Nothing sounds bloated to me in one way. They're not as clean as my ER4PT, but I like these better due to the comfort. (I...

Cons: cable gets twisted easily, the cable with the built in mic is poorly made

I used the e4's for about 6 years, loved them, never had one problem until one day I was lazy, forgot to throw them back into the case and the cat got ahold of them. I emailed shure and they said they no longer produced them however that they would upgrade me to the 425 for the same cost as repairing my e4's would have been.
I was a bit skeptical since the fit and design was completely different.
My mind changed quickly.
After finding the right sleeve, and doing the weird over,behind my ear deal (shure iem users know what I mean) I was in love. Out of the box.
The isolation was the first thing I noticed, the world was just shut out. Such a great and...

First of all, I don't think we should be comparing these to anything else but in ear monitors (IEMs), and generally in the price range. However, my only experience is with Sure SE 110s that I used for over 5 years. Those were about $99, and I got the 425s for about $270. I've now had them for about four months, and have gone through the slightly disappointed stage which seems to occur for a lot of people with a lot of headphones. No matter how much you read before purchasing, it still takes time for your brain to get used to a new sound signature. These really blow away the 110s in every way. They have energy, speed, focus and simply amazing imaging. ...

Cons: The wires are really stiff, sound isn't anywhere close to a similar priced over the ear headphone

I use these when exercising next to cars. I used to use sealed closed back headphones which didn't block out noise well, but these definitely do. When outside in a loud environment and wearing these, I set the MP3 player's volume to the same level I use when listening to these IEMs in a quiet room. The isolation is that good (I use comply sleeves, but the sleeves included were also pretty decent).
However, I was definitely disappointed by the sound quality, relative to a $300 over the ear headphone. I will never choose this over a headphone if listening to music in a quiet environment. The selling point on these isn't sound quality, but rather noise isolation. I won't take more...

I've been holding off the write this review because I wanted to give myself a good long time with these headphones before I broke them down. Starting off with look and comfort these are above par, the clear models give you the sense of technology added to the already quality given by them. At first I was skeptical about using IEM on a daily basis because my ears tend to be sensitive, but after just seconds of trying to figure out how to wear them properly they fit like a glow and with the right bit rated song these seemed to melt into my head, in other words I began to forget they were there. Although these are the least bass heavy of the SE models they create a very warming feeling...

Excellent IEMs for detail, clarity, and flat response across the whole sound spectrum. Love them, especially with the stock yellow foams. For a factual reprsentation of your music, really,really good. Not recommended for low bit files. For "fun" listening, it lacks a bit of bass.
I use an AK100. AK100 comes with a very slight v-shaped EQ. When making the V-shape more pronounced I could get more bass from these things, at the expense of some detail. Still, very satisfactory.
I tried third party cables and these changed the signature somewhat. Some added a bit of bass. Others added some soundstage. Satisfactory, but never quiet sold on the changes, so for now I settled back on the stock...

I'm not as experienced as other members here in headfi, but I can assure you that you won't be disappointed a single bit if you are coming from sub 200 dollars price range. I've been using earphones all the way from Apple's stock earphones, Audiotechnica sub 100 dollars, to Sennheiser sub 150. This SE425 just rocks. Of course, I got a deal for used pair for 152 USD, but that doesn't mean the sound quality degraded (actually, the previous owner burned-in, so it was a good sounding IEM from the beginning for me.)
One thing that I like about this design is that you can sleep while wearing these without a problem. It doesnt protrude from your ear, so no worries about them...

Coming from headphones such as the sennheiser HD25-1 ii and HD650 I was expecting much better SQ from these in ears.
They sound cold, really cold. It sounds as if you're listening to music through a tin can.
They are detailed however, but it makes everything sound cheap.
I haven't listened to these for long, just a day. But I'm pretty sure I will never get used to the sound signature, nor do I want to.
For the price they offer little SQ, I will be going back to the headphone world...
They do fit beautifully in the ear, they look rather like customs, and the isolation is terrific.
So just get the SE215 for on stage use etc.